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Jeffco parents who want to enroll their children in district schools other than their neighborhood school in 2015-16 can begin the enrollment process Wednesday, Jan. 7, according to a district press release.

Accepted placement depends on classrooms’ available space.

The district’s first round of choice enrollment will run from Jan. 7 to Jan. 30. A second round — based on a first-come, first-served basis - will run from Feb. 13 to Aug. 31.

Out-of-district students may also enroll in any Jeffco school that has the space.

Physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech language pathologists are hard to find in Colorado and even harder to recruit with a cash-strapped budget.

To address shortages, Jeffco Public Schools will begin outsourcing some of those services starting this month.

San Francisco-based PresenceLearning will begin providing physical, occupational and speech language therapy to Jeffco kids via teleconferencing under a $267,300 contract approved by the school board in December.

South Jeffco is home to companies such as Lockheed Martin and Oakman Aerospace that are playing big roles in the future of space exploration. Chatfield High School’s senior engineering class is aiming to add the school’s name to that list.

The class — one of nine in the country chosen to participate in a national design challenge sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science In Space — is working on a way to produce fuel in space with algae.

Two parents want the Jeffco school district to vet sponsors of district officials’ speaking engagements after an announcement for an Evergreen Tea Party meeting originally listed a white-supremacist group as a co-sponsor.

The flier for the Evergreen Tea Party’s Education Night on Nov. 10 originally listed the American Freedom Party as a co-sponsor. The flier was later corrected to list Americans For Prosperity, and an explanation of the error is on the Tea Party’s website.

The Jeffco school board voted 3-2 to approve the charter application for Golden View Classical Academy at last Thursday’s board meeting.

Board members John Newkirk, Ken Witt and Julie Williams voted in favor of the new charter, while Jill Fellman and Lesley Dahlkemper voted against.

Elected last November, the three-member board majority ran on a platform to increase school choices for Jeffco parents. Golden View Classical Academy is the first charter school approved by the board majority.

The Jeffco school board agreed that Superintendent Dan McMinimee’s performance-based salary incentives should align with the board’s academic and student growth goals.

“It’s important to me that a significant portion of (McMinimee’s bonus) focus on achieving the academic goals this board has set,” school board President Ken Witt said at last Thursday’s study session.

A group of Jeffco high school students announced Saturday that they are ready to lead an effort to recall the Jeffco school board majority if enough community members also are willing.

“This board will not change. A recall is (necessary),” said Chalen Gordon-McGlone, a senior at Evergreen High School. “I know (a recall) will take a lot of work, but we must work together. We are much stronger together than as individuals.”